Snake Pole; be focused! be loved! BE the church!

Yesterday morning I preached a message at Watermark about the Snake Pole. This passage has been one that has challenged me over the years. I encourage all leaders, Pastors, and those involved in church to read this. I hope this will help our focus.

I really enjoy reading about the Israelites. These people were praying for deliverance from slavery, then God provides a way for them and they still complain. Their story is one of Gods blessing /providing for them and them losing focus. After everything that God did, it did not take them very long to start complaining about what they do not have. This still happens today doesn’t it? It’s easier to complain about what we don’t have than to be thankful what God has provided. I heard many years ago that there are 2 types of people in the church; WORSHIPERS and COMPLAINERS! Worshipers can always find a reason to worship God and complainers can always find a reason to complain. We at times are not much different than the Israelites; God has provided so much but we still find a way to complain about we don’t have.

The Israelites saw God do miracles every day (Red Sea parting, a rock that turns into a water fountain, clothes that don’t get ruined, manna and more) but they still complained. God grew tired of it so He sent snakes.

Numbers 21:6-9 (New International Version)

6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

God sent the snakes but He also brought a way to get healed. He was trying to get their attention. He was trying to draw them back to Him. He provided a way again. He said that all the Israelites had to do was look up to the pole and they would be healed. Moses built this pole (“Nehushtan” (ne-hush’-tan): Copper snake pole that was created to heal the Israelites when they were attacked by snakes) and it worked. Whoever looked up was healed.

Then, a few generations later, King Hezekiah became king and one of the first things he did as king was destroy the “Nehushtan” pole.

2 Kings 18:4 (New International Version)

4He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called [a]Nehushtan).

Why did King Hezekiah destroy the pole? Because it lost its purpose. The pole was first built to bring the Israelites back to God and remind the people of God. It was not the pole that brought healing but the pole represented the God of healing. The pole was a memorial of who God was. The “Nehushtan” pole logo is still used today to remind us of healing.

Ambulances, hospitals, insurance companies and other agencies still use the pole to symbolize healing. Crazy!

The logo still reminds us today of healing. King Hezekiah destroyed it, not because of what it represented but because it lost its focus. These people started to worship the pole instead of worshiping the God behind the pole. They came and worshiped the symbol and they lost focus of God. The focus has changed. It stopped being a reminder of who God is and it started to become the object of the affection. This continues to happen today.

When Jesus went into the temple and got mad at the people seeing;

Jesus went into the temple area. He threw out all the people that were selling and buying things there. Jesus turned over the tables that belonged to the men that were exchanging different kinds of money. And Jesus turned over the benches of those men that were selling doves. Jesus said to all the people there, “It is written {in the Scriptures}, ‘My house will be called a house for prayer.’ But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hiding place for thieves.'” (ERV)

The people forgot the reason behind the temple. The focus changed. The place that at one time was a place to meet with God became a place to sell.

How does this affect the church today?

We need some Hezekiah’s today. We need people in the church; we need leaders, and we need pastors to take a stand and not to allow us to lose focus. When we lose focus we lose power. When the Israelites looked up and recognized God, they were healed. When they began to worship the pole, they lost the power. They no longer had Gods presence because they stopped focusing on the main thing. I feel that many churches have lost their power because we forget why we exist. We forget the reason behind everything. We get caught up in doing the same things over and over. I hear people say in church settings these kind of things, “Its always the way we have done it”, “It’s the way its always been done!” These statements reveal the heart. I believe in tradition but not for the sake of tradition. I believe in being steady and staying on course but I also believe in keeping focus.

King Hezekiah did not care if the pole was always there. He did not build a committee and take a vote whether or not to destroy it. He destroyed it. It took the place of the MAIN THING. It became the focus. Whatever becomes the FOCUS other than God becomes a distraction.

It’s amazing to think that when the pole was built, it was a symbol of healing. Later the pole was destroyed because it became a place of distraction. Like the pole, the church was built to be a place of healing. The church is here to lift up God and bring healing to broken people. In some churches (not all), the church has become a museum and not a hospital. We need to get back. We need to destroy the things that are distracting us from the main thing. We need to focus on HIM and reaching people for Him. Healthy things grow and so do healthy churches. Healthy churches are in the business of healing relationships and lives. They are in the business of pointing to Jesus.

We need to ask our self some tough questions?

Is what we doing drawing people to God?

Is it working?

Is this producing souls or just more work?

Are we doing this just because we always have or are people being changed?

Is this Lifting up Jesus or distracting?

Is this a place of healing or a museum?

I don’t want to have a church that loses its purpose. We are in the people business and we responsible for our world (not the whole world; our own world). A church that loses its focus will lose its influence and power.

Here is a great story about a LIFE SAVING STATION. “On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew. Some members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as sort of a club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club’s decorations, and there was a miniature lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities, since they were unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.”

We are in the business of healing, restoring, reaching, rescuing, and revealing who HE is to others. Jesus BECAME so we can BECOME. We need to make Him known. We need to be the church.

Lets not make ideas, traditions, events, the object of our affection. Remember God is always trying to get our attention. God cares about our heart more than anything else. God has something better for you than what you left behind. Let God worry about the result, you take care of your heart. Keep your eye on the prize; which is Him (the author and developer of our faith). Let Him guide you. Keep focused on Him so He doesn’t have to fight for your attention.

Lets be the church that fights for the main things. Lets fight for the things that break the heart of God. Lets fight for what Jesus gave His life for.

Are the things you are living for worth Jesus Christ dying for?

Don’t be a complainer; Be a Worshiper! Let the worshipers arise!

About the Author

Loving God and Loving the life that He has blessed me with. I am married to an amazing Lady (Babe). I am the father of two wonderful kids that are full of life.
I am the Lead Pastor of Watermark Church in Stillwater Mn. I love being part of this community and I am grateful to have an amazing team at Watermark.
I love learning, networking, developing and vision casting. I love to see the possibilities and to inspire others to become who God has created them to be.